


No one gets left behind

by thisisamadhouse



Series: The Queen and her little Prince [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, New York, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 09:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13901253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisamadhouse/pseuds/thisisamadhouse
Summary: Written for @oqfixitweek Day 2: Henry saves the day before Zelena gets pregnant.





	No one gets left behind

You may be a teenage boy but you have lived with a single mom all your life, you know more about how women think and feel than most men ever care to find out. Your mom may be the strongest person you have ever met but heartbreak affects everyone one way or the other, and your mom has suffered through it more times than she will ever be willing to tell you.

When she comes back from the town line, after saying goodbye to Robin and Roland, you can see that something is different, a light has dimmed in her eyes, the smile she gives you is forced and strained, and she can’t keep up the charade for long. You don’t bother asking her how she is, you just stay close, and you pretend that you crave ice cream and hot chocolate and a movie, because that’s what your mom used to do when you were sick. When tears start falling along her cheeks halfway through the film, you lean your head on her shoulder and ignore the droplets, you just hug her and hope that for once she will let you be the strong one.

Robin calls her when they arrive at the apartment in New York, but the conversation is short and awkward, and your mom takes deep breaths afterward that sound like sobs. They text a bit, but one day you see your mom look at her phone after it dinged and just put it down without replying, her eyes even sadder.

A couple days later, Will Scarlet sits next to you at Granny’s and asks you how your mom is, Robin is worried, he says, she hasn’t been replying in a while. You understand how much your mom is hurting so you take it upon yourself to reassure Robin. You text him, and even call sometimes when you get a new comic book you want to share with Roland. The little boy loves his storytime with you, but you can hear how difficult it is for them all. Even through the phone you hear Robin and Marian argue, the way Roland’s breath hitch, and you can imagine him cuddling around his monkey and gripping the phone tighter. You feel for him, this little guy who has been dragged between worlds, whose dead mother suddenly reappeared, who has been separated from his honorary uncles, it’s a lot.

You ask him how life at home is, and when he tells you about the fights and the slammed doors, and ‘I don’t think Mama likes me very much’, it raises red flags. You plunge yourself back into the story book, and you read whatever you can find about Robin and Maid Marian, and it just doesn’t match with the angry, insecure woman who asked Robin to delete Regina’s number from his phone.

You don’t tell your mother about your doubts, you don’t want to give her hope in case you’re wrong, or to make her feel guilty that she let them go over the town line with an impostor. The timing is what worries you, that Emma and Hook found Marian so soon after Zelena’s apparent demise. Her magic was strong enough to reopen the portal and you wonder, you wonder.

When you hear a particularly vicious fight during another phone call to Roland, you decide to ask the Merry Men what Marian was like when they knew her, and nothing they say reassure you. So you share your doubts with your grandparents and the Blue Fairy, and though they are skeptical -their almost pitying expressions telling you that they think you’re grasping at straws-, what you found is a matter of concern. The Fairy concoct some sort of revealing potion to uncover magical disguises, enchants a map so that you can find your way back into Storybrooke, and you also decide to bring the magic blocking cuff with you.

You tell both your mothers that you’re going camping in the woods with David, and for once you’re glad to have the support of an adult for one of your schemes because they both bring the full force of their inquisitive stares unto you, and you’re two seconds away from squirming before they nod and wish you a good weekend.

The two of you take off, and David’s expression when you reach New York is priceless. You guide him around, and it feels so strange to be back here. You’ve always felt that this city was extraordinary, bigger than life, but after spending time in little Storybrooke with all its magic and fairytale characters, Big Apple seems rather normal.

You both observe the building where Robin and his family live, and wait until you’re sure that the former Prince of Thieves is alone with Roland to go inside. They are shocked to see you, though Roland is overjoyed, jumping into your arms and talking a mile a minute, Robin pales and you can see that he is assuming the worst. You’re not sure if your explanations will soothe his fears.

He is glad to know that your mom is alright, well mostly alright anyway, but when you tell him what really brought you here, he is dumbfounded and upset. He doesn’t want to believe it, who would really? He has been duped, and he has to come to term with it. You tell him that you can give him proof, and you all wait for ‘Marian’ ’s return in tense silence.

The moment she walks through the door you throw the potion on her, and the dark-skinned startled brunette soon morphs into a familiar angry redhead. David seizes her, and you put the cuff on her wrist, ignoring her protests, before turning back towards Robin and Roland. The boy is clinging to his horrified father, and you feel sorry for them, they have lost Marian a second time and there is nothing you can say to make it better.

“I think it’s time to go home,” you tell them, and they look dazed as they nod.

They gather their meagre possessions and follow you to the larger car you borrowed from the dwarves.

Your mothers are waiting for you at the town line, and you’re not surprised, you knew it was only a matter of time, but it was worth it. Your mom freezes when she sees who gets out of the car, and her face turns ashen as Zelena appears. Roland runs towards her, and she embraces him tightly, Robin isn’t far behind. In any other circumstances their matching confused expressions could be comical, but not now, not when your mom and Robin are shedding tears, both, you suspect, in happiness at being reunited, and in grief at the tragedy surrounding it.

You join them, and your mom looks at you in wonder. “You brought them back to me, Henry. You figured it all out! How?” She asks you, and you smile at her.

“It didn’t sound right, none of it did, I had to be sure that your happy ending hadn’t been ruined for nothing,” you answer, and she engulfs you in her arms, and Robin squeezes your shoulder affectionately, and Roland is pressed in the middle of you all.

Your mom did say that one day you would have more family than you would know what to do with.


End file.
